A Reckless, Bittersweet Promise to a Dead Man
by i'llbeinwonderland
Summary: Puck receives a misdialed phone call that sends his world into a tailspin. He comes away from the ordeal with an impossible promise to uphold to protect a woman he has never met and a newfound hatred for plane engines.


**Hello fabulous Fanfiction readers! Welcome to my insomnia-induced idea! This story came from some very disturbed place inside of me (probably) and refused to leave unless it was written. **

**AN: Totally AU, but other characters will appear throughout the story. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

The day Noah Puckerman started living his life, he realized how completely insignificant it truly was.

He awoke that morning with nothing to look forward to. He could already see in his head how the whole thing would go down. He would get out of bed, put on some stuffy suit, do paperwork all day so he could have a shot at a job he didn't even want, head to the bar by his office building, buy beer after beer until the feeling of being shut up in a small cubicle was gone, and then go back to his shitty apartment to prepare to do the whole thing again.

He was only 24, and his life sucked. He lived in Cincinnati, which is a nice enough place if you liked that kinda thing. Puck did not. He had a young mother who he spoke to on the phone from time to time, only to listen to her yell at him for hours on end for not being with a nice Jewish girl. His sister was 13 and his dad was nonexistent. He had been out of college for two years and had done nothing with his diploma. The girls came around, but Puck always kicked them out before morning came and they thought it could be anything more than a booty call.

His life was pretty much as average as could possibly be imagined.

He was sitting in his tiny-as-fuck cubicle when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Technically, they weren't supposed to take personal calls during the day, but it was variation so he honestly did not give a fuck.

Puck got out of his chair and headed towards the elevator so he could take the call outside. When he reached the elevator, he pulled out his phone and even though he did not recognize the number he answered the phone.

He had no idea this would be the most important phone call of his life.

"Hello?"

"Rachel? Rachel?" The voice on the other end sounded like an older man, the tone of his voice was distressed.

"No… This is Noah Puckerman. I think you have the wrong number." Puck exited his building and walked outside. _Maybe I'll just go home. No one will notice. _

"Oh shit. I'm trying to call my daughter. Fuck." Puck listened on the other line. He thought he could hear screaming in the background.

"Well Sir, I'm sorry. There are no Rachel's here. I'll let you go-"

"No!" The man screamed, interrupting him, "I'm on a plane, and it's going down. I don't know how much time I have left. The pilot said he would try to find somewhere to land, but we are halfway over the Pacific and something is wrong with the engine."

Puck fell against the wall, clutching at the phone. "I'm very sorry, sir."

"Did you damage the engine?" The man asked.

"No."

"Then I don't see how it's your fault. This must be happening for a reason. Don't you think?"

Puck was astounded at how peaceful his voice had become. "I guess your right. Why don't you call your daughter now?"

"Oh, this was a dumb idea. I could never do this to her. She would be so broken up about it. Well… I guess when she finds out. My God, she'll be devastated."

"I'm sure she will be, sir."

"Listen, son. My name is Hiram Berry. My daughter's name is Rachel and her other father's name is Leroy. We live in New York. Would you please do me a favor?"

"Of course, anything." Puck's head was spinning at this point. He could hear someone crying from through the phone.

"Take care of her, please."

He thought about this for a minute. Here he was, talking to a man he had never met in what would probably be his last moments. This definitely counted as a schedule deviation.

"I promise, Hiram. I'll find her." Puck beat his fist on the pavement. _Why does this kind of shit happen?_

"Just take care of her. If you see her like I do, you'll be in love in an instant. She is amazingly talented and beautiful. Be sweet to her and love her like she deserves. I know it will be hard when I'm gone, but if she has someone, I know it won't be as bad." Hiram's voice was wavering, but he still sounded peaceful. The sound of screams was filling Puck's head. He banged his head against the brick wall behind him.

"I'll do whatever I can, sir."

"Thank you, son. You have my blessing. Thank you for helping out an old man like me. I've got to go now." The screams in the background were at an all time high. Puck figured they were loosing altitude.

Puck had no idea what to say, so he said the first thing that came to his mind. "_Tismoch Alai." (YOU CAN RELY ON ME)_

Puck winced. Hiram probably did not know Hebrew, so the last thing he heard would probably be gibberish to his ears. He was surprised when he heard his reply.

"_Todah Rabbah." (THANK YOU VERY MUCH) _

Puck sighed in relief, "May God be with you, Hiram."

"I believe he is. Goodbye, Noah."

Puck stared at the phone in his hand trying to decide if the phone call had been real.

_How in the hell… _Puck pulled himself off the ground, returned to his desk, grabbed his stuff, and left without a word.

* * *

When Puck got home, he poured himself a cheap glass of vodka and downed the thing the second he filled it to the brim. He figured Hiram must be dead by now, so he poured another one and drank to him too.

_Now… to fulfill my promise to the dead man, the promise no one knows about. The promise some deep and disturbed part of my mind probably made up. _

Puck picked up the vodka bottle and headed towards his room where his laptop was. Once the machine was booting up, Puck took some time to review the phone call.

_He said he wanted me to find a Rachel Berry, his daughter, from New York. And did he say _other _dad? Noah Puckerman, what have you gotten yourself into? _

Puck took another sip of vodka and rolled over toward his computer. He pulled up the website for the white pages and came up with some conclusive evidence.

There are three Rachel Barry's, two Rachael Barry's, a Rachel Berry, a Rachelle Berry, and a Rachel Bari, all living in the fine state of New York.

_How on earth am I going to figure out which one is her?_

Puck continued his search. He found out that one of the Rachel Barry's was 68, so he counted her out. Rachel Bari, maiden name Freeman, was happily married with five kids, so she was out. One of the Rachael Barry's was 7-years-old, so he was 99% sure this was not his girl.

This left two Rachel Barry's, Rachael Barry, Rachel Berry, and Rachelle Berry.

_Why does this feel like stalking? I feel creepy. You should stop this, Puck. This is unhealthy. _

Puck's mixed feelings were not settled in his stomach very well, and after a glance down at the bottle in his fist, he realized that it was missing half of its previous contents.

He started to think about Hiram again.

_I wonder what he looked like? I wonder what his job was, and what he liked to do. It's such a damn shame. _

Puck's head was now unsettled, he heard the passengers screaming and Hiram's voice echoing through his head. He made a mad dash to the bathroom and emptied out his stomach's contents.

* * *

After some serious teeth brushing and a much-needed coffee break, Puck headed back towards his laptop.

_Back to my Rachel Berry's…_

Puck now wanted to know more and more about these women. They ranged in age from 19-37. They all had different jobs – a CEO, a dermatologist, a teacher, a Broadway star, and an interior designer.

He started searching the web page of the CEO. Upon doing this, he eliminated one of the Rachel Barry's from the pool. Apparently, it was a family business passed down from generations and her father's name was Kyle.

_And then there were four. _

He couldn't find much about the other Rachel Barry, the dermatologist, online. Puck found a couple of Facebook photos of her and some guy, and they looked pretty happy together. She was also 37. He kinda figured that this wasn't who he was looking for.

_I'll put you down as a "maybe". A "probably not, but maybe"…_

He found Rachael Barry on a private school's website. The school seemed very prestigious and uppity, but Puck didn't want to judge. She looked to be in her late twenties and her hair was styled in a tight bun. This woman did not look like she needed protection, but ya never know. Puck wrote down the address of the school on a tissue from his bedside table and set it down next to him.

_On to the next…_

Rachelle Berry ran her own interior design company and looked to be very successful. Puck looked at the number on the webpage and picked up his phone.

"Hello, you've reached Berry Designs. How may I help you today?"

The voice on the other end did not sound like a woman's, more like a high-pitched male, so this was not Rachelle.

"Um… Yeah. I'd like to schedule an appointment with Miss Berry?"

"Okay well the office is open from nine to five Monday through Friday and closed on weekends. We don't usually do appointments, it's more of a walk-in type thing, but if you want I can take your name and call you back on a day that we aren't busy?"

"Yeah that's cool. I'm Noah Puckerman. P-u-c-k-e-r-m-a-n. You can reach me at this number."

"Okay sir. Have a nice day and I'll try to call as soon as possible."

"Thank you. Goodbye."

The next woman subject to his research was Rachel Berry. Puck typed her name into the search engine and was blown away by the number of hits the search generated.

Looking at the articles' titles, this chick was a Broadway sensation. She had been in musical theater since a young age, and her bio said she was 22. There wasn't anything about her family except that it was close-knit and very supportive of her career.

One title caught his attention.

_SPRING AWAKENING, STARING RACHEL BERRY AND JESSE ST. JAMES, DRAWS TO A CLOSE! BUY YOUR TICKETS TODAY!_

Puck clicked the article remembering Hiram's words. _If you see her like I do, you'll be in love in an instant…_

_What better was to see a person? _

Puck ordered a ticket online and noticed that the date was in three days.

"Well, looks like I'm going to New York."

* * *

**Love it? Hate it? Suggestions? REVIEW! **

**I got the Hebrew off of random sites, so don't blame me (please) if it's wrong. I thought of putting the translations down here, but that seemed annoying. You're welcome. **

**I'm thinking that Rachel's life in this story will be based on Lea Michele's, just F.Y.I. **

**I'm hoping to update my other stories soon! I just really wanted to work on this. It's become mind-consuming. **

**REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! **

**xoxo Brooke**


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